Life, the Imagination and Nothing
by Footloose Poets
Summary: "Er... could we be... dead?" "Possibly." "So... are we?" Will and Halt have a chat in the afterlife... or were they in nothing or... what? Will experiences some existential angst - confusion ensues. One-shot.


**Hello all! This is just an idea I got one day, and I wrote it into a one-shot.**

**I suppose I was inspired by reading Douglas Adams. I've actually modified one of his quotes from his book _Restaurant at the End of the Universe _and added it somewhere in the story; if you can find it, congratulations.**

**This is meant to be a one-shot, but I'm leaving it in progress for a couple of days to see if it could do with another chapter. Let me know if you think so. Seriously though, where could you go from here anyway?**

**Now, if they had it as a selectable genre, I would have called this obscure. Because it is meant to be a humour, but trust me, it's _definitely_ an obscure humour.**

**In other words, _don't expect this story to make a lot of sense, because it doesn't_.**

**If you don't know what existentialism is, google it. It will help you understand the story a lot better (unless the story helps you understand existentialism a little better, which it may. It might work both ways).**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The _Ranger's Apprentice _series is the intellectual property of John Flanagan.**

* * *

Waves of pain washed over Will as he lay on the cold, hard ground. His head throbbed terribly and his side was on fire. Groaning, he tried to sit up, but a gentle hand guided him back down.

"Easy, Will," someone said above him. "Just rest for a while."

Will slowly opened his eyes, and for a long moment his vision was too blurred to see much. Eventually it cleared and he saw Halt sitting beside him, watching him with concern.

"Halt?" he croaked.

"Yes. Are you alright?"

Will nodded slowly and sat up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," his companion replied matter-of-factly.

Will frowned. He looked around curiously, then realised they weren't really… anywhere. All that surrounded them was a very lonely white light. Naturally, he found this quite alarming. Suddenly, all his pain was behind him and he scrambled to his feet.

"Where the _devil_ are we, Halt?" he cried.

The man casually stood up beside him, "I've been wondering that myself. Where would you say we are?"

Will turned to him in disbelief, "How are you taking all of this so well?"

Halt shrugged, "Trust me, I didn't to begin with, but I've had a while to adjust. You were out a long time. Anyway, as I asked before, where do you think we are?"

Will spread his arms hopelessly, "I've got absolutely no idea. Er… could we be… dead?"

Halt nodded thoughtfully, "Possibly."

The two of them stood in silence for a long moment.

Will shifted awkwardly, "So… are we?"

Halt stared at him, "Your guess is as good as mine. The question is: how could we have died?"

"I don't know."

"Then do you think we're dead?"

"Do you?"

"As I said, your-"

"Yes, I heard you."

There was another long pause.

"You know," Halt mused. "I always pictured the afterlife as being a little more… crowded."

"But do you even remember how we died?" Will asked.

"No."

"Well, the way things are going, I don't think we'll ever… Wait, why are we so quick to assume we're dead? There must be a logical explanation for this!"

He began to walk away.

"Where the devil are you going?" Halt called after him.

"Anywhere!" Will answered.

Halt shrugged, and watched his companion until he disappeared from sight. He waited.

"Damn!"

Halt spun around to see a very bewildered and agitated Will standing behind him.

"Have fun?" he asked him.

"I don't get it!" the young man was extremely upset. "I just left here, and now I'm back again?"

Halt sighed and placed a reassuring arm on his friend's shoulder.

"I know, Will. I've tried it myself already."

"What?" the Ranger was taken aback. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?"

"Good point."

The silence returned. As they stood there, staring out at the prevalent white nothingness, Will began to get the suspicion Halt knew more than he was letting on.

"Halt?" he asked.

"Yes?" the man looked at him inquiringly.

"What do we do now?"

Halt shrugged, "Well, we've already tried to find a way out of here. I suppose all we can do now is wait."

"What?" Will cried. "What do you mean wait? What will that achieve?"

"Nothing, most likely. But can you think of anything else to do?"

Will sighed and sat down in defeat. Halt sat beside him. They waited.

They continued to wait.

Nothing happened.

Even more nothing happened.

"Where do _you _think we are?" Will asked.

Halt shrugged, "I don't know. I think we're dead, but then I think rain is wet, so who am I to judge?"

"I suppose so… wait, what?"

"Never mind. I was trying to be insightful, but obviously I'm just not cut out for that."

"You know, we're probably just imagining this," Will suggested.

"We probably just imagine everything."

"What?" Will stared at his companion in disbelief.

"Well," Halt elaborated. "How do we know anything exists? The whole world could just be a figment of our imagination. How do we know that when we leave the room, everything we leave there doesn't just disappear from existence until we return and create it again?"

"You know Halt, I never saw you as an existentialist."

"Maybe I'm not. Maybe you just imagined me this way to give you something interesting to talk about while you're stuck here. Maybe I don't really exist."

"Do you exist, Halt?"

"That's all a matter of opinion."

"I think we're dead."

"What makes you think that?"

"For a start, you're usually sane, and we're in this place, so I can only assume this is the afterlife and you've finally gone over the edge."

"I suppose that's a reasonable explanation."

The pair sat there and stared out at the vast white surrounds in silence, until Will had another thought.

"Halt?" he turned to face the man.

But he wasn't there. No one was.

Will was absolutely alone.

"Er… Hello?" he called out to the nothingness.

But of course, it didn't reply.

* * *

**So, there you go. Does it need another chapter?**

**Please review!**


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